95 Tasting Notes

Very nice tea, my first taste of Korean green tea. Dry leaf quality is good. Aroma of fresh cut grass. Used a celadon tea pot, no rinse the leaves looked that good. Flavors of sesame seeds, seaweed, minimal butter and artichoke undertones with a thick mouth-feel and a very vibrant yellow hue. Since I used a lot of tea I steeped first for 15 sec and then lengthened by 15-30 thereafter. The blog notes from the website says its an every day tea, well good for the Koreans to be able to have this as an every day tea, its super yummy and I would put it up against any first class green tea.

Flavors: Seaweed

Preparation

One of those teas that instantly knocks your socks off and I wasn’t wearing any to begin with. Used a thin walled gaiwan, rinse and 10 minute stroll to feed the birds then steeps of 30/30/30/30/40/40/40/50/50/60/60/70/70/90/115/130/145/160 and so on. Liquor was thick pouring and on the tongue, with flavors starting out floral and then turning sweet. Not a trace of astringency, a slight bitterness but you have to be paying attention. The spent large leaves are all whole and uniform and as I looked in my strainer not a piece of broken leaf to be found. A most amazing tea, will be buying the whole cake next time.

Preparation

Above standard raw puerh, has a soft dry sweetness with all the prerequisite flavors of hay, pine nut, kelp. Hui gan much in present with a solidness on the tongue and that seeping of sweet coming off the parotids. Used a gaiwan one rinse and a rest then steeps of 20/25/30/35/35/35/40/40/40/45/45 after that it became a blur, as I needed to do some chores around the house since the cha qi was coming on strong. The spent leaves were all uniform and quite green with flecks of brown.

Ghost writing this review for my brother-in-law Jim from Brooklyn NY. He’s a green freak.
“Organic Korukunda green tea has sublime spirit and mineral traces that make it an experience not altogether unlike imbibing a highland whisky. In any case it has grandeur, nobolity and reach. Its telling me something and i am the larger for hearing it……..And it goes great with cornbread.

Another sample gift from “PUG”. Gaiwan, 2 rinses and rest 15 minutes. Nice and dark the steeps are. Aromas of peat, earth, slight smoke. The flavors however were not as complimentary as I thought they would be. Just very smooth, no harshness or astringency, but left me thinking I wanted more in the flavor department. It did however last the whole day and did not loose what flavor it had.

Preparation

Described to me in the store as a purer form of Bai Ye not as overpowering as others. It is very subtle. Hints of orange/bergamot among the peach florals. Leaves all uniform going from rich brown to dark greenish brown. More rock flavor as you go, standard steeps 10/15/20/20/30/30/45/60/75/90/120/150/180

Preparation

Very nice yancha, smooth with the perfume of shui xian and the vegetals of tie guan yin, steeps 10/15/20/30/45/60/90/120/240. Used 175F in a gaiwan very good structure through out the process, slight rock taste, never overpowering, sound offering from Tea Drunk.

Preparation

Mushroom, mushroom, mushroom. Walking deep in the forest sitting down on a rotting tree log covered in shrooms. Chopping creminis for mushroom consomme. Kombucha kvass. Porchini dust for lamb tenderloin. Amsterdam in my youth. All things mushroom. Outside of that a bite dry, tannin, astringency but all in a mellow way. Leaf is beautiful light brown uniform with the broth resembling, what else, mushroom consomme. Used way too much tea to water but I don’t have an intermediate gaiwan. The steeps after rinse and wait started at 45sec and gradually up from there ending after an all day session. Yummy tea glad I purchased.

Like going from a steely Chablis to a refined Montrachet. Soft smooth buttery, lots of oak but there is one thing that Montrachet doesn’t have. Sweetness from the very 1st steep. I’ve never experienced this before probably cause I’ve never had a raw pu erh this old. It also has a gentle smoke, no astringency, and lasted forever. Used 7.5 gm in 100 ml gaiwan. I was all over the map with the steeps though, settling on 30 seconds to give a nice golden clear soup. This was added to my order as a sample from Tea Urchin and I thank them tremendously.